Nancy Iverson, a pediatrician, found the exercises she learned from Ms. Summers helped her work through a spinal disc injury that made walking extremely painful. Primarily from yoga, she completely regained her painfree functioning. She began yoga after unsuccessful results from physical therapy and chiropractic to resolve the injury. She continues to come for a yoga lesson when her life becomes stressful. In her professional practice, Iverson routinely refer teenagers with musculo-skeletal problems for Yoga Therapy. "I would love them to learn good patterns early on, rather than to have to unlearn bad ones at age 40," she says.

Business Professor, Richard Castaldi, was originally drawn to yoga to address structural pains and increase flexibility. He reports, "As a professor, I can deeply appreciate your dedication and concern for your students. As a yoga beginner, I found your teaching style very comfortable and motivating. The yoga program that you designed is perfect in meeting (actually exceeding) my original yoga goals. My body is more relaxed and limber and I have noticably more energy. More importantly, you have given me tools that I expect to use and benefit from the rest of my life. I heartily recommend your yoga teaching to my friends and work colleagues."

May Ochi came to Ms. Summers through the Arthritis Foundation for relief of her upper body symptoms, especially headaches. "My arthritis came back with a vengeance after a gall bladder operation," says Ms. Ochi, who has lived with the joint disease for almost 45 years. "My shoulders, arms, collarbone, and neck were so painful I couldn’t get out of bed." She says her doctors couldn’t explain it, and "I had to do something." Previously, she had obtained relief from lower body pain through replacement surgeries for both knees and hips.

Working individually with Ms. Summers once a week for two months, Ms. Ochi learned, through a combination of deep breathing and gentle movements, to make her headaches go away. "It’s really helped me; it seems to have loosened up my shoulders,’ she says. "It taught me to be more relaxed... Now I know how to start getting relaxed," she adds. This was really a godsend... Its was fun, too!"

CD Producer Lolly Lewis: "I'm always busy, and my schedule is erratic, so I wanted to create a practice that I could use when I could find the time, wherever I was. Dawn was perfectly responsive to my needs: I don't feel pressured to do more than I can right now, but there's always support for me to learn. I come away from my lessons energized!"

The New Dawn Yoga Therapy approach is physically enjoyable and can also help advanced yoga students refine their practice. "I’m impressed by Dawn’s approach, which is gentle and different for each person," says Anaya Adair, a yoga instructor herself. "After working with her on my cobra pose, I began to feel the notion of an integrated back...I’ve left her classes feeling very energized and peaceful and good, and I didn’t have to stand on my head.

"I recommend these classes to people like my parents--who have never had any yoga experience-- to learn how to do it right the first time, and to those with experience who wish to deepen their yoga practice."